Football - 2008/09 Season

[phantom_power]

When better refers to being the Champions of Europe, i.e. the best of the best, then Barcelona win.  They won the Champions league.  You weren't talking about the league.  You stated that "defining two teams based on one game is pointless".  My point is that it's not pointless when it's the Champions League Final.  In fact, it is the point.  That's why it comes down to a single final.  So it is decided on a single game where everything is to play for.  Barcelona beat Manchester United.  They are the Champions of Europe and therefore the better team.  If being Champions of Europe does not dictate the worth of a team as better than the team that were runners up, then I don't know what does.  We weren't talking about United and Liverpool in the league.  You were talking about United versus Barcelona in the Champions League Final.  Since they don't play in a league together you have to judge it on the single head to head games.  And that makes Barcelona the better team.

my reason for mentioning liverpool was just to show that judging two teams based on one game alone is pointless, whether it is a league game or the euro final. obviously not every competiton can be a league so competitions have to be decided on single games but to say that makes one team better than another for anything other than that single game is too simplistic. what about luck, form, injuries and all the other countless variables that decide how a team plays in a particular game? for the record, barca are a better team than united but that is because they proved it over the course of the season, not just that game.

[hoverdonkey]

Having said that, a three in midfield with Carrick and Modric as creative players alongside someone to do the dirty work would be interesting.

Why not have Palacios and fuck us over completely? ;)

[weekender]

I was quite surprised to read today that West Ham United have only had 12 managers since their inception in 1901, so I thought I would share that statistic with you.

Source

_{Thank you for appreciating my self-less act of stat-sharing.}

[MuteBanana]

Yeah there was a piece in the papers about their Youth development bloke being there for the majority of those managers too, dating back to the 60s or 70s.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/8135671.stm

Classy gent. I swear Man United fans would love Goebbals if he stuck on the shirt and scored 30 goals a season. How Ronaldo isn't an embarrassment of a memory to the fans just reinforces the slightly tired accusation that the club is stocked to the gills with casual glory hunters for fans. Genuine fans like chand constantly excusing unmitigated tossers of his ilk during his time at the club make it worse, as those are the kind of people that really should be saying "winning is great, but couldn't we be winning without this utter utter prannock shitting on the legacy?"

All academic of course now. I'm not so much pissed off at his comments in the article, more that the best footballer in the world is also the least likeable- quite an achievement in a universe containing Joey Barton.

[Lee Van Cleef]

He kinda has a point though, though specifically I think Real will be better maybe not La Liga as a whole.  When you have an influx of some of the best talent in football, does it not elevate status?

[Slaaaaabs]

The actual quotes in the article aren't particularly cunty. It isn't as if he hasn't been bigging up United and Ferguson in every other interview he has done.

Now Carlos Tevez on the other hand, that man has revealed himself to be a massive crybaby cunt of the highest order if the quotes attributed to him are real.

[chand]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/8135671.stm

Classy gent. I swear Man United fans would love Goebbals if he stuck on the shirt and scored 30 goals a season. How Ronaldo isn't an embarrassment of a memory to the fans just reinforces the slightly tired accusation that the club is stocked to the gills with casual glory hunters for fans. Genuine fans like chand constantly excusing unmitigated tossers of his ilk during his time at the club make it worse, as those are the kind of people that really should be saying "winning is great, but couldn't we be winning without this utter utter prannock shitting on the legacy?"

He's just saying complimentary things about his new club and league, and it's largely true given that La Liga now has the three best players in the world, it's certainly something a lot of people are saying. He's been very nice about United, particularly Ferguson, whom he flew back to have dinner with, describing him as a second father. I know fans who hated him throughout 07/08 who think he has gone in the right way, and he's certainly not badmouthed the club. There are lots of things I dislike about Ronaldo but these pretty benign comments don't add up to much.

I excused Ronaldo a lot when he was here because he was overwhelmingly good for the team and I felt like other people placed too much emphasis on his flaws and irrelevant nonsense like the 2006 World Cup fiasco.

[bennett]

my reason for mentioning liverpool was just to show that judging two teams based on one game alone is pointless, whether it is a league game or the euro final. obviously not every competiton can be a league so competitions have to be decided on single games but to say that makes one team better than another for anything other than that single game is too simplistic. what about luck, form, injuries and all the other countless variables that decide how a team plays in a particular game? for the record, barca are a better team than united but that is because they proved it over the course of the season, not just that game.

No, I got your point, and reading back it's probably just me reading too much into a single sentence.  It just read to me like you were a Bitter United Fan^(TM) who were trying to make out that even though Barcelona beat you in the final, United were the better team so it didn't matter.  I thought the Liverpool reference was weird because Barca don't play in a league with United, so they can only really be judged in head to head encounters, unlike Liverpool and United.

[confettiinmyhair]

An amazing story
http://www.glennhoddleacademy.com/sevilla_sign_ikechi_anya.html

[jimmy jazz]

I thought the Liverpool reference was weird because Barca don't play in a league with United, so they can only really be judged in head to head encounters, unlike Liverpool and United.

But if that were true, wouldn't the cup upsets that happen every year mean that Bradford are better than Villa or whatever?

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

It's July now - surely it's time for the Football 2009/10 Season thread?

[rjd2]

It's July now - surely it's time for the Football 2009/10 Season thread?

True enough, why don't you start one?

EDIT: Just seen your thread!